A walking tour of Scottish Montreal - Main Tour

MAIN TOUR1. Anglo-Boer War Memorial(Strathcona Horse Monument in Dorchester Square)Donald Smith, later Lord Strathcona, was born in Forres, Morayshire, Scotland, and was chief financier and promoter of the Canadian Pacific Railway. He served as Chancellor of McGill University, President of the Bank of Montreal and gave generously to Montreal institutions. This monument commemorates Lord Strathcona's patriotism and public service in raising and equipping the "Strathcona's Horse" Regiment. His portrait can be seen in bas-relief on the west side.

2. Robert Burns Monument(Dorchester Square)Robert Burns, the famous Scottish poet and songwriter, was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1759. He published his first poems in 1786 and his fame became widespread. This is one of several monuments erected across Canada in 1930 by the admirers of Burns. The Seagram's Building, on Peel just north of St. Catherine Street, has a number of typically Scottish features, including an homage to Robert Burns.

3. The Windsor Hotel(1110 Peet Street)This "Grand Old Dame" of Montreal hotels was opened with the St. Andrew's Ball on November 29, 1878, by Princess Louise (4th daughter of Queen Victoria) and the wife of the Marquis of Lorne, the Duke of Argyle and Governor General of Canada. The St. Andrew's Ball was held here (except for a few years in the 1960s) until the hotel closed in 1981. Scots such as Duncan McIntyre, William Notman and the architectural firm of Hutchison & Wood were prominently involved.

4. Monument to Sir John A. MacDonald(Dorchester Square)John Alexander MacDonald was born on January 11th, 1815, in Glasgow, Scotland, and moved to Canada in 1820. As a Father ofConfederation, Sir John A. MacDonald became the first Prime Minister of Canada on July 1st, 1867. His goal was to expand and settle Canada across the continent by building a transcontinental railroad —the Canadian Pacific.

5. Statue of Lord Mount Stephen(Windsor Station before entrance to concourse)George Stephen was born on June 5th. 1829, in Duffton, Banffshire, Scotland. He came to Montreal in 1850 and began working in a wool clothing firm. His dynamic character led him to become the first president of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and then a director and President of the Bank of Montreal. He was a noted Montreal philanthropist and art collector. This statue, made in England and placed only slightly above ground level, stands as though ready to receive guests to his train station.

6. Bell Canada Building(1050 Beaver Hall Hill)Named for St. Andrew, the patron Saint of Scotland, St. Andrew's Church was founded in April 1803, and its new large and important church was built here on Beaver Hall Hill in 1850. When the congregation joined with that of St. Paul's church in 1918, the site was sold to the Bell Telephone Company. We cannot ignore the Scottish origins of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, who spent much of his life in Canada. The Bell Telephone Company of Canada was founded in 1880 and its first President was Andrew Robertson of Paisley, Scotland.

7. Strathearn House(1175 Place du Frère-André)The home of William Dow, who was one of Montreal's important brewers and businessmen, was born in Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland, on March 27, 1800, and came to Canada in 1818 or 1819. By 1834 he opened his own brewery– William Dow and Company. He became a very wealthy man and invested in real estate, railways and banks. William Dow never married and lived by himself in this richly decorated stone mansion named, in the Scottish tradition, "Strathearn House" at the top of Beaver Hall Hill. The Engineers' Club moved in on May 12, 1907, and occupied the premises for several decades.

8. Canada Cement Building(606 Cathcart Street)The formation of this company, one of the largest in Canada, owes its existence to a well-known Canadian Scot — William Maxwell Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, who descended on Montreal in 1907, fresh from financial triumphs in his native Maritime province. By his own account, his move to Montreal raised his fortune from about $700,000 to over $5,000,000 in just a few years.

9. Birks Building(Union at St. Catherine)The Birks family is of English descent, but they confided the building of their new downtown jewelry store to the well-known Montreal architects of Scottish descent, the Maxwell brothers.

10.The Bay(On St. Catherine, between Aylmer and Union streets)This building was constructed in 1891, to house The Henry Morgan & Co., Canada's oldest department store, founded by Henry Morgan in 1852. Henry Morgan was born in Saline, Scotland in 1819. It merged with the Hudson's Bay Company in 1960.

11. Fur DistrictFrom the Bay east to Bleury Street and for a few streets north is Montreal's fur district, the heart of Canada's fur industry. Some of the finest furs in the world are treated and designed into magnificent garments for sale worldwide. The first Scots who settled in Montreal in the mid-18th century entered the lucrative fur trade and made Montreal a focal point of the trade.

12. The Black Watch Armoury(2067 Bleary Street at President Kennedy)The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada armoury was built in 1905. The Regiment traces its origin to 1862, and is Canada's senior highland regiment, with a glorious record of service in the Boer War, World War I and World War 11. The Regiment has always been a prominent organization in Montreal's Scottish community.

13. Hutchison StreetThis street is named after the Hutchison family of Ayrshire, Scotland, one of the oldest of Montreal's Scottish families whose properties had been sizable in this area since 1815. A noted member of the family was Alexander Cowper Hutchison born April 2, 1838, in Montreal, who became a leading architect. His buildings include the Redpath Museum, the La Presse building, Macdonald College buildings, the Bank of Montreal dome and Lord Strathcona's residence.

​14. Royal Victoria College (3425 University Street)McGill's Royal Victoria College for Women was established in 1899, by Lord Strathcona. Ahead of his time, he provided the women of McGill with their own facilities by giving them their own residence, dining hall, and library, along with their own classrooms.

15. Presbyterian College(3425 University Street)Founded in 1865 to train Presbyterian ministers for service throughout Canada. Originally located on McTavish Street, an exchange was made with McGill to the present location in 1960. The Joseph Mackay family, William Dawson (both discussed later), Laird Paton and the Reverend D.H. MacVicar of Argyleshire were the founders.

16.McCord Museum of Canadian History (690 Sherbrooke Street West)Judge David Ross McCord was of mixed Irish and Scottish descent. The collection that lie gave to McGill University has been enhanced and maintained with Scottish help. The museum has undergone expansion and renovation of the former McGill Student Union Building, which was donated to the university by Sir William C. Macdonald. It was designed by Percy Nobbs, a Scottish-born architect, who had a great influence on Montreal's development. The museum opened in this building in 1967 due, in large part, to a generous grant by the Stewart. family. One of the museum's great collections is some 400,000 photographic negatives produced by William Notrnan, who was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1826 and died in Montreal in 1891. He was the renowned chronicler of Victorian Nlonireal, Quebec and Canada.

17.McGill University(801-865 Sherbrooke Street West)McGill University'• international renown is due in large part to the generosity, ingenuity and dedication of Montreal's Scottish community.James McGillJames McGill was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1744 of Scottish Presbyterian parents. He amassed a fortune as a partner in the North West Company of fur traders and was then involved in other businesses. He became a very influential Montrealer in promoting acceptance of the need to provide educational facilities. He bequeathed his 46 acre estate, Burnside, and a large sum of money for the establishment of the university.The Macdonald Physics Buildingwas constructed in the early 1890s, an endowment of Sir William C. Macdonald, founder of the Macdonald Tobacco Company and generous benefactor of the University at the turn of this century.It was one of the largest buildings in Canada to be built entirely of wood and masonry to avoid magnetic interference. Ernest Rutherford, the discoverer of radioactivity, worked here.The Redpath Museum, donated by Peter Redpath, is located on the west side of the campus, and houses one of the most important and oldest natural history collections in Canada. Redpath I fall was also a gift of Peter Redpath to house the library reading room. It has been restored and is now used for ceremonies and concerts. The 1921 Redpath Library extension is the work of Percy Nobbs.The Roddick Gates, which "guard" the university, are a memorial to Sir Thomas George Roddick, an eminent surgeon associated with the University. His father was from Dumfrieshire, Scotland.The McLennan Library, the largest of the university's 16 libraries, is named for the McLennan family, long-time benefactors of McGill's libraries and in particular for Isabella McLennan, who left McGill $1,000,000 for library purposes in 1960.

18. McGill College AvenueThis avenue leads to McGill University and was named on February 16, 1856, to honour James McGill, whose summer home, -Burnside," was situated on the present McGill College Avenue, midway between Sherbrooke and de Maisonneuve on the east side. It was demolished in 1860.

19. Cantlie Hotel(1110 Sherbrooke Street West)This hotel is named after the Cantlie family residence, formerly located on this site. One member of this prominent Montreal family, George S. Cantlie, served with the Black Watch for over 50 years.

20. Atholstan House(1172 Sherbrooke Street West, corner Stanley)Sir Hugh Graham, Lord Atholstan, was born of Scottish parents in Atholstan, Huntingdon County, Quebec, in 1848. He learned the newspaper business from his uncle and eventually became sole owner of "The Montreal Star," which had the largest English-language circulation in Quebec when it closed in 1979. Mr. Graham became known for his philanthropic work for the needy, abused women and children, and through the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

21. Forget House(1195 Sherbrooke Street West)The Forget House was originally built by Senator Louis J. Forget and was later sold to the Montreal United Services Club. Since 1974, this stately mansion has become the headquarters of the Macdonald Stewart Foundation, which continues the work of Sir W.C. Macdonald, who established the Macdonald Tobacco company in 1858, and was very generous to w&ersities, hospitals and cultural institutions throughout Canada. Forget House also houses the offices of The St. Andrew's Society of Montreal, which was founded in 1835, out of a concern for helping inunigrant, Scots to settle in Montreal.

22. Drummond StreetGeorge Alexander Drummond was born on October 11, 1829, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Ile emigrated to Montreal at the age of 25 and became associated with the large sugar refinery established by John Redpath. He became active in the banking, railway and flour businesses in Montreal, and was called to the Senate. Ile donated many of his paintings to the Montreal Art Association (now the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts), of which he was president from 1896-1899.

23. George Stephen House(1440 Drummond Street)The magnificent mansion of this railroad and banking magnate in Montreal (see statue #5). It is now a historical monument and a private club. Many of its original features can still be seen.

24. Drummond Medical Building(1414 Drummond Street)The Drummond Medical Building, built in 1929, was avant-garde for its time since it was designed to house an indoor parking lot, not yet permitted under municipal by-laws. The architect was Percy Erskine Hobbs, who was born in Haddington, Scotland. He was the director of the McGill School of Architecture, and is responsible for designing many other Montreal buildings.

25. Ogilvy's(1307 St. Catherine Street West)James A. Ogilvy, born in Scotland in 1836, moved to Montreal where he worked for a dry goods wholesaler. In 1866, he opened his first store in Old Montreal and, in 1895, followed the merchants' move to the downtown area. His first store on the northeast corner of St. Catherine and Mountain streets was designed by his son, David Ogilvy. Seventeen years later he moved the store across the street to this present location, also designed by his son. Unfortunately he died in 1911, eleven months before its inauguration.

26. The Standard Life Assurance Company(1245 Sherbrooke Street West)The Standard Life Assurance Company was first established in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1825, and was the first insurance company to open in Canada. It was established in Montreal in 1833. The Canada Standard Life Company represents the largest offshore operations of the Scotland-based parent company. Edward Black Greenshields, of Scottish origin, was co-founder of The Standard Life Assurance Company.

27 Erskine and American Church(3407 du Musée Avenue)The American Presbyterian Church was founded in 1823 and The Erskine Church was founded in 1832. It was known as the Scottish Secession Chapel, located on La Gauchetière Street (now the Chinese Catholic Church) and moved into the present building, designed by A.C. Hutchison, at the top of Crescent Street in 1894. The two churches merged in 1934.The Erskine and American Church is now a part of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art. It closed in 2003 as a church and reopened as part of the museum in 2009.

28. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts(1379 Sherbrooke Street West)The Benaiah Gibb Pavilion of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts recalls this young Scottish tailor, who moved to Montreal and successfully amassed a fortune, which he used to purchase art and thus became one of the founders of this renowned art museum, one of the oldest in North America. Scots have been prominent donors of art and finances to the museum over its long existence. The architects of this pavilion were the Maxwell Brothers.

29. Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul(3415 Redpath Street)St. Paul's Church was founded in 1832 in Old Montreal. The congregation then moved to be closer to the new residential uptown area next to where the Queen Elizabeth Hotel now stands and in 1918, united with St. Andrew's Church. When the Church was expropriated for CNR's Central Station in 1929, a new site was found on the Mackay estate on Redpath and Sherbrooke. The building was completed in 1932 and incorporated all the original stained glass windows. It is the Regimental church of The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada. In 1930, St. Paul's Church, on expropriation, was dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt in St. Laurent where it stands today.

30. Mackay StreetNamed for Donald Mackay, a member of the North West Company. It was also the site of a different Mackay family estate, that of Joseph MacKay from Kildonan, Scotland, his brother Edward and their nephew Hugh, who established a wholesale dry goods business.

​31. Church of the Messiah(3415 Simpson Street)This Unitarian church was built between 1906-08 by the Maxwell brothers, on the McDougall estate. The church was destroyed by fire in May 1987.

32. Simpson StreetThis street is named for Sir George Simpson. Born in Lochbroom, Scotland, about 1787, he came to Canada to work for the Hudson's Bay Company. He rose to be Governor shortly after the company merged with the Nor'Westers in 1821, a position that he held until his death in 1860. From 1833 he made his headquarters at Lachine, where he courted politicians, entertained lavishly and invested his money in banks and transportation projects.

33. Medical Arts Building(1538 Sherbrooke Street West)The Medical Arts Building, the first building constructed specifically for doctors, surgeons, dentists, and other members of the medical profession, was built in 1922-23 by Ross and MacDonald. Its facilities include operating rooms and rooms for patients.

35. The Royal Montreal Curling Club(1850 de Maisonneuve MO.)The Royal Montreal Curling Club was founded in 1807, by twenty of Montreal's sporting merchants who curled on theSt. Lawrence River. Legend holds that it was the soldiers of the Scottish Regiments in Quebec in the mid-18th century that introduced this ancient Scottish sport to North America and played with cannon balls cut in half. The founders of this club were in large part Scottish and included William Logan, James Caldwell, Robert Armour and Thomas Blackwood, who was the club's first president and partner of the I honourable James McGill.

36. Montreal Thistle Curling Club(1420 Fort Street)The Thistle Curling Club was founded on December 19, 1843, by some ofMontreal's prominent Scotsmen including Simon McTavish, John Auld and John Armour, who served as the first president.

37. Shaughnessy House(Corner Fort Street at René Lévesque Blvd. West)Now part of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Shaughnessy House, built in 1874, is the only remnant of three majestic mansions located between St. Marc and Fort on the north side of René Lévesque Boulevard. In its heyday, from east to west, were John McLennan's home, built in 1870; Shaughnessy House, originally a semidetached mansion built for Robert Brown (a wood merchant) on the eastern half and Duncan McIntyre (Vice-President of CPR) on the west; and at Fort Street, Donald Smith's (Lord Strathcona) residence, built. in 1870.

About Us

Founded in 1835, the St. Andrew’s Society of Montreal is a charitable society dedicated to the assistance of Montreal’s Scottish community, to education, and to the preservation of Scottish arts and culture.